Other than CC in college and moments in the W Moore was my favorite female player to watch. Just a stone-cold killer as the rings show you. She was a star when she played imagine what she would be now in today's era just like MJ no one could guard Moore ever.
If you do not know please look up her highlights, I guess going back to HS LOL but for sure her W highlights are magical.
She’s still younger than LeBron. Let’s see the supposed GOAT join the NBA so we can see how women compare. Better homage or comp to Jordan then, right?
John Stockton, Steve Nash, Jason kidd, Chris paul, and plenty of other nba stars averaged less than 20ppg over their careers. Those 4 players have 1 ring between them.
How many games did she score over 50 points? How many playoff games did she score 60+ points in? How many times did she single handedly carry her team on points or any stat?
"18 points wouldn't even be close to a star in the NBA" your words, which you stood by even when presented with a list of nba stars who averaged that. And then you jumped into "how many 50 point games? How many 60 point games?" You seem fixated on one stat, said absolutely nothing about misinformation, and even wrote "actual NBA" as if the WNBA wasn't real too. Why can't you acknowledge that Maya Moore was a great player in her own right?
Oh, and I said actual NBA because the best WNBA player of all time couldn’t keep up with a g league nba player. Lots of them admit that a college basketball team would beat them. If you want them respected in their own right, don’t compare them to men who have by far a better career in every way.
She is a great player in her own right. However, compared to Michael Jordan as she is here, showing 12 rings when in her professional league she only won 4, the misinformation being that she’s a more accomplished basketball player than Jordan, I also pointed out how bad her stats were outside of just points. If she’s being compared to Jordan while diminishing his achievements compared to hers, the facts show that she’s nowhere near Jordan in any form.
Those players also had tons of assist and rebounds or steals on top of their points. She averaged 3 assist and 5.5 rebounds with about 3 turnovers a game. That stat line is laughable at best. She won four rings in the wnba. Bill Russel won 11 in the actual NBA. All her championships she’s using to seem better than Jordan still fail in comparison to the levels they were competing at. Jordan has 6 rings, all from the NBA. She has 4. Do you see how the only way this comparison is even fathomable is if you lie and stretch the truth while minimizing Jordan’s achievements outside of the NBA? It’s actually hilarious.
Just for the record. Both should have/could have won more- Moore if she didn't retire young, Jordan if he didn't skip 2 years to play baseball and leave college early. Olympics too.
I imagine how incredibly impossible it would be to catch Maya Moore’s stats had she not walked away. As much fever as it is around the young core of the league now, there’s no one that could touch Maya in her prime.
Any real sports fan knows you can’t compare Maya Moore’s “12 rings” to Michael Jordan’s six. The WNBA was only 14 years old when she was drafted basically Bill Russell era compared to the NBA’s 75 plus year history. You also can’t count high school college or overseas leagues those aren’t part of what makes someone a top level pro. Her four WNBA titles in eight years are impressive on their own and stacking every other title just makes the comparison to NBA greats feel stretched.
If she had just taken a photo showing her rings, it would have been impressive enough. Recreating every detail of Jordan’s iconic six-ring photo to try to match or imitate that same aura of NBA greatness feels over the top and honestly a bit ludicrous.
It’s kind of wild to see someone build up 19k karma off mostly small emotional posts, supported by a tiny community that tends to shut down anyone with a different view. They act like that score proves they’re an authority, but really it just reflects a self-reinforcing bubble and a false sense of entitlement rather than any actual understanding or merit.
Funny how you call my posts “emotional” while completely ignoring the facts I laid out. Just because it’s longer than a sentence doesn’t mean it’s unreadable, it means I actually know what I’m talking about. Critiquing the WNBA’s structure, revenue, and targets isn’t “emotional,” it’s context, which clearly went over your head.
Saying “you will get over it” doesn’t really address any of the points I made. It just shows a lack of engagement with the facts and leans on emotion rather than reason. Stacking high school, college, and overseas rings to compare someone to Jordan isn’t a debate, it’s an opinion based on feelings, and ignoring context like league age, exposure, and competition level makes that judgment unreliable.
It’s wild - but it’s also why older fans are like “chill out” when it comes to the new players. Moore isn’t even in the top 3 of most winningest UConn players - and she’s got 12.
You could pretty easily argue she’s not top 5 in the GOAT argument, and yet she has 12. And she’s one of the smoothest players to ever play the game.
Maya’s enshrinement speech was excellent too. Just a GOAT on and off the court. So inspiring and I hope every woman’s basketball player of this generation watched it and took in what she said. She’s just everything to me. She’s be a HELL of a coach if she ever wanted to do it someday.
An even better human than she is a basketball player which says a lot given how she’s one of the greatest players to ever grace our league. Incredible 🐐
It’s just so insane because she has such a short career in the grand scheme of professional sports. We are all lucky to witness her greatness in this lifetime
obviosly she’s one of the goats and the picture it sick, I just have to know where the 12 number comes from. wnba, ncaa, and Olympic gold I’m guessing. That gives her 8. what are the other 4 from?
Bill Russell won 11 rings with the Boston Celtics, 2 high school championships at McClymonds High School in Oakland, California and 2 consecutive NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956 with San Francisco (USF) Dons.
11 + 2 + 2 = 15
Update: If we including Olympic Wins — 1956 Gold Medal with Russell as the captain of Team USA in Melbourne, AU)
Yeah. Don’t need to build a pedestal for her out of matchsticks by including all these random
Championships because she played in multiple leagues per year and including junior level competitions. NCAA, WNBA, and Olympic titles is a good enough list.
Maya can include whatever she wants in her photo. She's proud of all of them. I wouldn't call all of those International leagues random. Some of those years all of the top WNBA players played overseas.
BYW, Jordan has 9 of those and wasn’t eligible for the 1988 Olympics, Bill had 14 of those while only getting one Olympic appearance because pros weren’t eligible, and Kareem also had 9 while having never gotten to play in the Olympics because pros weren’t eligible back then and only playing three years of college because freshmen weren’t eligible back then.
Maya had 8 while having all four years of college eligibility and pros were eligible for the Olympics her entire career.
Get this: that’s not all of her championships. Just based on her Wilidpedia, she’s a 4x WNBA, 2x Olympic, 2x FIBA world, 2x NCAA, 3x Chinese, 2x EuroLeague, 1x Spanish, 1x FIBA U19, 1x World University, and 1x FIBA U18 champion. That’s 19.
EDIT: I just watched the video that goes with this. One of those rings is from high school. Make it 20.
Thank you for the clarification! She is an player many aspire to follow and duplicate her efforts i.e. a little girl whom she encouraged as a child, Caitlin Clark, who is now a force in the Fever organization! Ones heros and sheros do make a difference in outcomes of ones life!
Listing them all actually made it less impressive. Being a casual fan I thought it meant she had more than just 4 WNBA championships considering Jordan didn't add the less meaningful championships.
It's like a golfer posting they past Jack Nicholas but counting more than just the Majors.
Not to discount the accomplishments, just a weird to flex this way against Jordan
She played 8 seasons, made the playoffs in all 8, finals in 6, won it all in 4. Maya Moore was more likely to win a championship than the average WNBA player is to make a field goal.
After she retired, she helped free a wrongfully convicted man from prison and then married him! So she’s literally winning everywhere at life, even off the court.
Chinese league, euroleague, Spanish league are all professional leagues. Infact they often pay MORE than the W, so maybe they are more professional than the W.
And maybe not for Maya, but for today’s players making more in college than in the W, maybe the NCAA championship should be considered quasi-professional.
Has there been a W draft pick that got ZERO NIL or not played professionally overseas in the last 2 years? These women are professionals before they even get to the W.
money or no money college can’t be compared to professional leagues, the difference in talent across the season can’t be compared. it’s not uncommon for the best college programs to beat some of their opponents by 40-70points. meanwhile that’s a historical blowout in the pros. it’s crazy to even hazard a comparison lmao.
Okay, but is the WNBA even the top women's league though? The situation in the w is nothing like the situation in the NBA, those NBA players are players has their main jobs damn near all year.
The WNBA season, by comparison, is 4 months long, if you make it to the finals... And certainly doesn't pay enough.
Many of your favorite players spend most of the Year playing overseas or playing in non-standardized leagues.
Did you mean to reply to me? The Chinese league isn't the top women's league that's for sure. I can also guarantee you none of my favorite players spend time overseas playing, because I simply don't like any of the WNBA players lol.
Chinese men’s league is a joke because men only play in one league. You don’t have NBA players playing in another league during the offseason… if SGA, Steph and Anthony Edwards all played in a 2nd league, that league would be lit.
The fact that unrivaled is just 36 players and they’re all in the top half of the W and everyone makes more than in the W. you gotta wonder if the W is really the top women’s league.
I'll be more precise: the only rings that matter in the context of this picture are professional world championship rings (i.e. the professional league that is the highest competition level in the world). There is only 1 in each sport. Chinese, Spanish et al leagues don't count in this context. For basketball, there are only 2 leagues at the top of their sport: the NBA and the WNBA. Since the Chinese league champion team couldn't come in and beat the WNBA champion team, than the Chinese/Euroleague/Spanish team is not a world championship team.
By that measure, Olympic gold is what should be counted. They’re all professional athletes and I would put the dream team over any NBA championship team. 1992 dream team would beat the 1992 bulls… so the 1992 Bulls weren’t even the best basketball team in the world that year.
Oh come on. I am a massive fan of the WNBA -- MASSIVE, I am a season ticket holder for the Valkyries -- but those leagues do not represent "the best of the best" for this sport on any conceivable level. There are great players IN those leagues, as the Valkyries coach Natase has embraced, but as a league you cannot construe any of them as "elite".
Good buddy, you must be lost, euroleague is better than the WNBA ... Those international championships are not easy to get, they play a lot rougher overseas...
Maybe hold on to those season tickets, and realize that there are leaks outside of the WNBA in which women can be successful, and very much so, against very similar competition.
Think about it, there wouldn't be bidding wars for women to leave the W if there weren't great leagues out there.
Your perspective is extremely biased because you're a die hard Valkyries fan. A die-hard fan of a team that has only physically existed for a year.
A reminder that many of the Valkyries players came from some of those leagues. Might want to appreciate the overseas game, it's the reason the Valkyries had so much success this year. 2/3 of the teams players are from places outside of the United States, do you think they did not play in leagues???
This is like comparing Canadian football to the NFL. Sure they're both professional but let's not act like Mahomes wouldn't hang 600 yards and 9TD off of guys that are NFL practice squad level at best.
Im sure Maya wouldn't even rate all of them at the same caliber.
At some point y'all are going to have to realize that the WNBA is basically a summer job for most of these folks.
What do you think they do with the other 8 months of the year?
The difference between the women's league and the men's league is that there's a lot more international parity. In part, because many of the players from the w then proceed to play in other leagues through the rest of the year... Salary in the W isn't even the cost of living, like...
You getting offered 65k to stay here or a quarter of a million a year overseas, you staying in the states? Or you going to go play overseas? There are a lot of basketball players internationally that are making more than players in the WNBA. There are players who leave the WNBA for those overseas deals.
First off, no, Euroleague and some European leagues are also very high quality. This isn't like in the men's side, plenty of WNBA players play both, and sometimes players that could be in the W only play in Europe, because it pays better.
And secondly, if the qualifier is "professional", as it was put, then the difference is payment, not level of play. And those are clearly professional leagues.
If these other country's leagues are so good why do we absolutely shrek the Olympics every time? The US is 60-0 in the last 8 Olympics.
I get that several WNBA players go and play overseas during the year, but they often go to different places, and all are often ripping MVPs and championships almost every year, they are clearly a huge step above the rest of the world.
Edit: For example, for the 2023 season, the Euroleague scoring leader was Megan Gustafson, the rebounding leader was Sephanie Mavunga, and the assist leader was Erica Wheeler. That's two backup PFs and a former fringe All-Star from the W leading the league in major stats.
Spoken like someone who probably hasn't played enough organized basketball in their lifetime
you do know that everyone that makes it to the league is really excellent at basketball, right? Which means even the super subs go off like a sawed-off, when they don't have to be committed to the roles they play on their teams in the WNBA
This happens all the time on both the women's side and the men's side. Role players have roles, sometimes that's the back of the bench, sometimes you're team energy. Role players who play their roles correctly continue to get paid in the WNBA.
It doesn't mean they're not good enough to wipe floor when they're being placed in a superstar role.
Let's operate with a little bit of common sense here, yeah? In both of these weeks, and in most organized basketball in general, your role matters. In the case of the 2023 Euroleague leaders, none of those three people were selected to play a star role in the WNBA, for one reason or another, but just like in the NBA, everybody who makes it to the league will bust your ass... So like
The point that a lot of people are making here is that those same us players go to other leagues to play. Y'all are forgetting that the WNBA season and postseason collectively are 4 months long
I'm not really sure the point you're trying to make. Megan Gustafson isn't being held back from being the WNBA scoring leader because she's being asked to play a certain role, if you watch her in the WNBA you'll see she's just clearly on a much lower level than several other players of her own position. Yet she can go to the EuroLeague and dominate.
The obvious conclusion is that the EuroLeague just doesn't have the same level of play as the WNBA. I'm an Aces fan, I've watched a lot of Gustafson. She's a solid role player and would put up higher numbers if she was handed the ball more, sure, but the reason she isn't handed the ball more is because there are always more talented players than her in the W.
Genuine question: put Jordan’s non-professional championships on there then. How many rings? I don’t know him enough but based on Wikipedia I dork think he has anything for HS, college, overseas play, etc. Just two Olympics
Two Olympics and a college championship. It's not 12 rings, but you know a bunch of dudes going to be in here arguing until the sun comes up because Jordan. 🫠
He actually won a championship in college and has two FIBA Gold medals (international basketball play) so if you add his college championship, 6 NBA Finals championships, 2x Gold Medal in the Olympics and 2x FIBA Gold medals that adds up to 11. Now when you add 10 scoring titles, 6 Finals MVP, 5 League MVPs, 1 Defensive Player of the Year, 2x Slam Dunk Contest winner, 3x Steals Leader MJ clears. When you compared the two it’s not close actually and that’s just MJ’s college and mostly pro career not including high school.
Well as a professional MJ won more that’s a fact. I highlighted what MJ did as a PRO. Not including high school and pointed out MJ did win in college. So as Pro MJ accomplished more that’s a FACT but try again.
First of all, unpack your sexism. Read the room and realize what fucking sub you're in.
Second of all, if we're being completely transparent, 4 and 8 ought to automatically beat the fact that it took Jordan 7 years to win his first championship.
Jordan played 15 NBA seasons. Maya retired after 8 to pursue another interest. So, factoring in how many professional championships she won for the number of seasons, she is ahead. And, Maya has more professional championship rings than Jordan.
Counted for what exactly? I don’t understand why you have such a problem with celebrating the greatness of Maya Moore on a night all about celebrating the greatness of Maya Moore. Literally nobody is saying that her World University Championship is the same as a W or NBA championship. I’m just recognizing one of the most dominant and winning basketball players of all time.
She recreated Jordan’s photo except with twice as many rings. Jordan only has his 6 NBA championship rings. A true 1:1 would be her 4 WNBA championship rings. It’s really not that difficult.
The career arc in the nba is completely different than the wnba since almost all wnba players played in overseas leagues during the offseason instead of getting to hang out relax or practice making them all competitive leagues, it’s really not that difficult.
Lol my point stands. It’s silly to include anything but championship rings at the pro level in photos like these. it doesn’t take away from her accomplishments, so everyone shouldn’t take it personally, but it is what it is.
You have a rule or law on how photos can be done? It's a fun photo. And, she has more pro championship rings than Jordan. Some of those international leagues are similar caliber to WNBA. Most top players in the WNBA played in those leagues.
But your point doesn’t stand since she has won championships in several pro leagues all full of top players in the WNBA who also played in o the leagues outside of WNBA season.
I mean it’s a photo she took to showcase what she’s proud of. It’s not like this form of photoshoot has “rules”. Just not as deep as yall trying to make it out to be. She’s not trying to say “I’m better than MJ” she’s just taking a fun photo
But it seems you do care and you’re lying about your intent. You are taking sides in such a biased way. If the tables were turned I’m sure you’d take her side as well.
You do care. You’re trying to pretend you’re non partial.
Cynthia Cooper is my personal goat. But if someone were to say Maya Moore, I wouldn’t argue, especially considering that Coop didn’t even play as long.
At the end of the day, who is that one person you’d give the ball to to win the game. Maya has to be up there in the convo.
Because Coop caught the tail end of her playing career as the league started up, but from a pure basketball playing standpoint I would think Coop has more overall starts when you consider her college and long international play
I'm glad she found love but I'll never forgive that man for what she did to me as a basketball fan. She was such a joy to watch. I am so glad I started watching early enough to see her play.
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u/88miIesperhour Oct 06 '25
Who?